The invention relates in general to wireless communication systems and more specifically to detection of wireless communication device in systems having cells with different pilot signal frequencies.
Wireless communication systems may include transceiver nodes, sometimes referred to as base stations or access nodes, to establish communication links to portable wireless communication devices. Each transceiver node transmits a pilot signal which is received by a wireless communication device. Pilot signals assist the wireless communication devices in communicating with the transceiver nodes. A pilot signal may be a dedicated single frequency carrier or may be a dedicated channel that is a portion of a carrier. For example, a pilot signal may be one or more time slots at a particular frequency spread by a particular code. In order to receive wireless service from a particular transceiver node, the wireless communication device must adequately receive the pilot signal transmitted by the transceiver node. In order to be handed off to a new transceiver node, a wireless communication device must first receive the pilot signal transmitted by the transceiver node. The wireless communication device, at least occasionally, searches for new pilot signals while communicating with a transceiver node. Often a wireless communication device includes a list of pilot signals that can be searched. Such a list may include pilot frequencies, PN offsets, and other information identifying a pilot signal corresponding to a transceiver node that may be available for providing wireless service to the wireless communication device.